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Tuesday, January 6, 2009 12:00 AM

The Israel rules

America's support of the Gaza attack proves once again that our mythical image of Israel has blinded us to its faults -- a myopia with devastating consequences for both countries.

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  • Tuesday, January 6, 2009 08:40 AM

    Gary Kamiya, lying again.

    "Much of the rest of the world is outraged by Israel's assault on Gaza. But the United States -- the beacon of democracy, the champion of freedom, a nation founded on revolutionary anti-colonialism -- is applauding it."

    Let's break this down, shall we? Certainly, the EU, Russia, China, the UN -- they are all decidedly more stern in their language about Israel's Gaza incursion than is the U.S. But of course all those bodies are in essential agreement with the U.S. and Israel; that Hamas is a terrorist organization that must be stopped from firing missiles into Israel. "Outrage" is hardly the word for the mainstream views of those parts of the world. The Russians in particular have shown us how they'd approach small nation-states that they regard as terrorist enemies. Like Chchnya. China? That's the model for open-minded internationalism? Come on. Even the Arab world has a serious problem with Hamas. Yes, there are some segments in the world that regard Israel with "outrage." Those are the outlier groups. Most of the world, including the U.S., regards Israel's incursion tactics with "caution."

    And, as for the second half of Gary Kamiya's risible assertion? That the U.S. is "applauding"? What Secretary Condoleezza Rice has said is that a cease-fire should be reinstated, immediately. She is not "applauding" Israel's military. She'd like it to stop. Hamas has, for weeks, indicated that it has no intention of stopping.

    Are we now to take seriously any complaints from Hamas that Israel is causing the deaths of children as collateral casualties in Gaza? It cannot be. Hamas is sending unguided missiles into Israel, designed to land just about anywhere, and it has the gall to complain about Israel's accidental killing of Palestinan civilians?

    I think it is things like this that reveal people like Gary Kamiya as completely dishonest hacks, bent on a far-left political agenda. And that much is certainly not news.

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